TIPS FOR TAKING ESSAY TESTS

By John Quincy Adams

What follows is designed to help you do well on essay tests by focusing on what do you do during the actual administration of the test.

First and foremost, bring a watch or other timepiece to the test. Not every classroom has a visible clock (which is the case for nearly all A.C. Third Floor rooms). If you don't own one, borrow one. It is essential for your performance that you know what time it is ten or fifteen times during the test. It is the only accurate way of giving the appropriate amount of time to each essay question. Most test questions assign a percentage value which will be used by the instructor to combine all the components into a single grade. Suppose a question represents 40% of the total grade. In an hour test period, you should calculate the number of minutes ideally available for answering the question. In this case it would be 24 minutes. Do this for each question - - and write down the minutes in the margin of the question sheet. Then stick to the time allotment! If, after 20 minutes you are only half way through your answer for the 40% question, don't panic. Begin to outline the major points you wish to make. The first 20 minutes you spent in writing an essay answer should indicate to the instructor that you can indeed write an essay; the outline indicates that you know the points to include to make a proper answer.

Of course, all this assumes that you have something to write with. Pens are the preferred instrument; pencils went out with junior high. And don't use light colored ink (e.g., green, to match the queasiness of your stomach) — your instructor may be grading late at night in dim light and thus doesn't want to have to strain his/her eyes. To be on the safe side, bring two pens to the test — in case one of yours runs out of ink, or your idiot classmate didn't bring any.

Some tests have instructions. The number of students who are so primed to put down all the answers immediately and thus don't read the instructions are legion. Sometimes failure to read the instructions results in penalties, mistakes made in choosing questions to answer, or other problems not likely to endear you to the instructor. So read the instructions twice.

The natural tendency upon receiving the question sheet is to find that first question and start it right away. Don't. Read the entire exam first (it won't take but a minute). It is possible that some of what you plan to put in your answer to the first question belongs instead to another answer later on. Also, reading it through first will give you an overview and might also raise some question in your mind which would be better to ask the instructor at the beginning rather than mid-way. And remember, you want to calculate the minutes available for each question before writing any answer, so you have to read it through!

Now let's say you are ready to answer the first question, but you draw a blank on it and fear you will waste time contemplating it with no visible results on the paper. Most instructors do not mind if you answer out of sequence as long as you clearly indicate you are doing so (although it won't hurt to ask permission to do this in advance).

Now let's talk about the question format, particularly the wording that is the key to what the instructor is seeking. Some terms are relatively easy to respond to, but others frequently are misunderstood. For example, a question that asks you to "trace" or "develop" a topic means that you should write a chronological or sequential answer. "Describe" or "present" means you should give a straight-forward exposition. "Compare" is probably the most misinterpreted directive. For example, if you were asked to compare the electoral system of France with the electoral system of the United Kingdom, you certainly know that you are expected to put down major elements of each. But how you put these down is crucial. If, for example, you spend half of the answer describing the essence of the French electoral system, and the second half describing the essence of the UK's you have not complied with the directive and should receive an F. Why? Because compare means that you, the student, are to make the comparison, not the instructor through some magical merging of your two halves. You must interweave in your answer the similar and dissimilar aspects of the two electoral systems, usually no more than a sentence apart, thus revealing to the instructor that you see the commonality or difference concerning a particular point. Again, you cannot describe one and then describe the other, whether it is electoral systems, or legislative systems, or anything else. You must interweave. Incidentally, "contrast" is a special form of the directive "compare" — the word asks you to write about the differences, not the similarities, although sometimes instructors are rather sloppy in their use of this term.

There are still other terms frequently used. "Explain" and "analyze" require you to do some dissecting and discussion of component parts. "Relate," "apply," and "connect" mean that you should take the two (or more) matters mentioned and tie them together in some logical order (or point out how it is not logical to do so).. "Evaluate" means that you should be critical, giving pros and cons or advantages and disadvantages.

"Discuss" is the most general directive, and thus forces you to write an answer which just about incorporates all of the other directives mentioned above. It will help you in structuring an answer to a "discuss" question to indicate throughout your answer just exactly what specific directive you are following as part of your "discussion."

Finally, handwriting. Is yours the envy of the medical profession for its illegibility? If so, your instructor will dread the appearance of your test. S/he may even think you were on speed when you took the test — how else to explain the tiny squiggly lines which constitute the entirety of your answers? While it is too late to require Palmer Penmanship to rectify your deficiencies, it is possible to improve your handwriting — and if you are one of the 2% who have to come in to read the test out loud to the instructor, perhaps you better check out a book on handwriting and make a conscious, dramatic change in your writing style.